Titanic Survivor Still Going Strong

There may not be too many survivors of the Titanic tragedy still around, but heres one that got away that is still going strong. Decades after the eagle eye of Eagle Star Insurance Co founder Sir Edward Mountain prevented the fledgling venture from sinking with the ship, the company has grown into a strapping giant which is knocking on the doors of the Indian insurance sector.

Even as James Camerons blockbuster closes in on the $1 billion mark, the British insurance giant finds old memories surfacing of the day in 1912 when the doomed liner was offered to it for insurance, but it declined.

 

On that day, our founder Sir Edward created a kind of history in his own way by declining to insure what was considered to be an unsinkable ship. He felt the ship sat too low in the water. Also, the rate being offered by Lloyds of London was too cheap, recounted an Eagle Star official, quoting from company archives. So he went against the tide of opinion by refusing to underwrite the Titanic. His caution was well founded, as history proved later, revealed papers from the archives of the Eagle Star Museum.

The ship was insured for one million pounds in 1912 and several insurers went down with the ship. But Eagle Star was destined for a longer life, and over the years has gone on to cover the Windsors and personalities like Charles Dickens.

Backing out of insuring the Titanic wasnt the only wise decision Sir Edward took. He also predicted the collapse of the marine market between the wars and by the 1930s had led Eagle Stars diversification into all other classes of insurance business, ensuring that Eagle Stars providential escape from the Titanic disaster didnt go waste. But for nearly 77 years after the Titanic sank, the story was never proved and remained a legend. Until a faded letter surfaced in our companys archives (in 1989), which threw fresh light on this cherished legend and for the first time set the affair in a solid historical perspective, say the archive materials. The letter was a correspondence between the department of Eagle Stars company secretary and Hugh Merriman, who was a marine underwriter under Edward Mountain.

Legend has it that when the Titanic steamed off down Southampton Water, the cream of Londons underwriters were congratulating themselves on having the sound business sense to underwrite such a safe bet except Sir Edward. Tragically, he was proved right, but at the expense of 1,522 lives. And so, it took another 86 years before anybody could actually cash in on the ship of dreams.